My Immortal
by She-Jedi-Siona
Summary: How will Juliana come to terms when she hears that Data is...STAR TREK: NEMESIS SPOILERS!


centerMy Immortal: By Siona  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not, in any way, own Data, Juliana, or Star Trek: The Next Generation in general; if I did, God knows how Genesis would have turned out...*imagines Wesley on that ship...*  
  
Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?!  
  
A/N: The lyrics are from "My Immortal" by Evanescence. Anywho, I just read the novelization of Nemesis, and damn J. M. Dillard for describing the death of my all-time favorite character. I can honestly say this is the first and only time that I've EVER EVER EVER cried over a fictional character's demise, and I had to wonder what Juliana would think of her "son's" death...  
  
*****/center  
  
centeriI'm so tired of being here Surpressed by all my childish fears And if you have to leave I wish that you would just leave Because your presence still lingers here And it won't leave me alone  
  
This wounds won't seem to heal This pain is just too real There's just too much that time cannot erase/center/i  
  
The melody was soft, low, like water flowing through her hands. Juliana Tainer closed her eyes and basked in its glory, sighing as she once again fell into the music.  
  
Her computer chimed, alerting her to a new message.  
  
"Bother!" She paused and looked around for her husband but he was nowhere to be found. Sighing a heavy sigh, she set down her violin and went to her computer. "Yes?"  
  
A face appeared...a familiar face.  
  
"Captain Picard! What a pleasure to see you!"  
  
The captain's face was even tighter than usual. Juliana had the sudden notion that he was on the verge of collapsing in on himself. "Is something the matter, sir?" she asked him.  
  
He didn't answer right away, looking away from the viewscreen for a moment down at his desk.; she could have sworn she saw the man shiver as though he were fighting against an oncoming sob.  
  
"...Captain...what is it?"  
  
"It's Data, Mrs. Tainer," replied Picard. He looked back up, seemingly with all his strength. "It's Data."  
  
centeriWhen you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears And I've held your hand thorugh all these years But you still have all of me  
  
You used to captivate me By your resonating light But now I'm bound by the lift you left behind Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me/center/i  
  
She couldn't stop crying.  
  
The sobs were tearing her apart, little by little. Her cries of regret and sorrow echoed in her home, resonating off the walls to sic the pain in her voice back onto her. It felt like someone had ripped open a gaping hole in her chest and stolen away her heart, leaving her hurt and without a soul.  
  
In a way, someone had.  
  
centeriThese wounds won't seem to heal This pain is just too real There's just too much that time cannot erase  
  
When you cried, I'd wipe away all your tears When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears And I've held your hand through all of these years But you still have all of me  
  
I've tried to hard to tell myself that you're gone And though you're still with me I've been alone all along/center/i  
  
How long ago had it been, that moment when those amber eyes had first opened to look up at her and her then-husband, Noonian?  
  
Could it really be close to forty-five years ago that that simple life she herself had christened Data had begun?  
  
Another image was brought up, the only remaining of her dear, sweet son. It was Data again with an overly exuberant Noonian, just learning to walk. His moments had been jerky, reminiscent of the Old Earth movies featuring those horrid robots with their monotone voices and inhumanity.  
  
Oh, not her Data.  
  
He'd inever/i be that, she had known, though the memory of Lore's terrors had still been fresh on her mind.  
  
He hadn't been like that.  
  
He could have been so much more.  
  
For one moment, Juliana hated him with every fiber in her being.  
  
How dare he leave so soon, when the world that hadn't accepted him had just begun to come to terms that he wasn't some oversized waffle iron with a mouth?!  
  
How dare he leave her heart so hurt and vulnerable?!  
  
How dare he bring this kind of grief to his closest friends, the crew members he had regarded as his true family?!  
  
With a fury the betrayed her age of body and mind, she grabbed a vase off the desk and threw it as hard as she could. It flew true and smashed her intended target; a picture she had taken of her, Noonian, and Data a month after his "birth".  
  
The sound of its breaking woke her up and she realized she couldn't think such horrible thoughts; Data had given his life for his friends...his ifamily/i.  
  
He'd brought an answer to any who had doubted if he had a soul.  
  
He'd made his mark on the galaxy, nay, the universe as they had known it countless times.  
  
With a sigh of regret and endless sorrow, she walked over to the shattered picture frame. The photo itself was unharmed, a blessing, but the pieces of glass and vase were irreparable.  
  
Like Data.  
  
Like Juliana's heart.  
  
"Juliana?" It was her husband. "Juliana, what happened here?"  
  
She brushed away a worried hand and stood, cradling the picture to her breast like it were only connection to the living world.  
  
"Oh, nothing really," she said with a sad, yet happy smile. She turned to him and gave him a kiss to reassure him. "I'm just picking up the pieces. Maybe this can be fixed after all."  
  
~Siona 


End file.
